The Conclusion

Over the year with the blogs I have learned to remember to do them. Also that there is more to a piece of literature then what the text literally states. My blogs have developed me personally as a writer. I now ask better questions and I have learned to understand the text in depth instead of taking what it says literally. The ones about a literal written piece has made understanding something in a significant way and even farther in depth. The farther you go in a text, the more details you can add to your essay. The main point of these blogs is to excel into a better writer and help people comprehend the books we have read. The questions for Great Expectations, helped us understand what we were reading more by our peers comments. Most of these questions helped write better essays, because they create another environment to where one can write formally and ask questions about things. The blog about Pip's chains had us expand the symbol for chains to its actual meaning of lies. We then put that into consideration as we wrote an experienced based paragraph about our chains. The Mockingbird blog emphasized the meaning of motif by having us find a motif and write about it and examine the overall meaning of it and how it contributes to the whole book. With the Victorian Research blog we explained how it was back then with the gender roles and how the book The Importance of Being Earnest, explaining examples of the roles and how Oscar Wilde took that aspect and put it into context. Although after all of these blogs and comments helping me improve my writing, I still definitely feel it can be much more detailed and use different word choices. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Meaning the words in our blogs would have never happened if we had not been thinking in depth on what the blog is about and how to make it sophisticated, such that we will understand what we are writing and others will understand what we are writing. Overall these blogs are good for us, to look back on, and to expand our writing to new heights in word choice, and to take it to new depths in the details of the chosen literature. With all of that said, I ended up liking the blogs even though they are troublesome. Eventually I will look back on these to see how I used to write and I will have improved on my redundancies and word choices. Hopefully. Have a good summer!

Challenges and Conquests

Over the course of 9th grade Honors English, I have learned to write well developed essays. I have learned to use the book to support an idea and to really dig deep to analyze what the author is trying to say. I have also learned to not be repetitive, although it sometimes seems that I am, but I change the words into their synonyms to make them sound less redundant. I do believe that I am growing into be an accomplished essayist, but I do have troubles therefore I don't think I am all the way to accomplished yet. Analyzing the writing for literary elements is a good thing, even though it's a bit of a hassle. It can help you comprehend the text and to understand it, instead of just having it go over your head. The challenges of analyzing is that is can be hard to explain. You know how it goes in your head, but it's hard to put on paper.

So far after my finishing of my Romeo and Juliet essay, (I am still going to make it better) I think it is in the high B range. I'm still having trouble with redundancies and making it sound original and deeper than the meaning that is shown in the text. I am going to work on those things by using synonyms for repeating words and reading the text and try to get a deeper meaning of the play than what I have. I think I can possibly get it into a low A, but hopefully higher. After writing this blog I realize, I really have to work on the repetitive element.

Summer Reading List

If it was a total free summer and I didn't have to do anything for Honors 10 over the summer, I most likely would not read anything but the U.S. Boating Course handbook thing to help me get my boater's license, so I can drive our boat around. But since I most likely won't get a good grade for this blog unless I choose 2 books I would read.

I would read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I have seen the movie and it was pretty good. But as always the book is usally better then the movie, sometimes. My mom read it and she liked it alot and said I would like it if I read it. I will probable read that if I have time after the Honors reading assignment.

Another book I would like to try to read over the summer are the Harry Potter books by J.K. Roling. Like the other book I have seen the movies and those are pretty good and I hope the books are as good if not better then the movie. Everyone says the books are better then the movies, but I would like to see if that is right.

Culture Shock

The idea of Romeo and Juliet is all around. One idea that comes to mind is the new movie coming out in May Letters to Juliet. I have only seen the commercials so I don't know exactly what it's about, but it looks like it is about an elderly person that has lost her love sometime ago. A young girl finds a letter that has been written to someone sometime ago too. So the young girl says she has to write back and goes on this adventure to find the elderly woman's lost love. After they find him they probably celebrate a little I think they did by having dinner. Doesn't exactly portray Romeo and Juliet because they didn't die but they kind of did when they lost each other.

Extra Credit Post

I think this English class has been an experience for me. Doing things that I never thought I could do like read a 500 page book over the course of about a month, and writing essays, and also analysing a book, which I have never done before. I have learned alot in this class. I have learned many varieties of words from word power and to also to read in between the lines to understand what the author is trying to say instead of just having it go over my head. I have learned to remember things and not procrastinate such as remembering to do the blog even if I remember at 10 o'clock at night, but I still do it. And I have met new people by doing the group projects and things like that. Although I still have a fear of talking in front of the class and standing in front I have learned to relax, I'm not shaking anymore but my face still gets bright red, and my voice is really quiet sometimes and makes me not able to talk, but I get over it eventually.

Skits

One scene I would like to see performed is when Pip is in the marshes looking and reading the tombstone of his parents and his siblings, then Magwitch startles him and asks him who he is and what he's doing. Then he tells him to go get him food and a file or else he will have his friend eat his liver for dinner if he did not return and called the cops.

Another one is when Pip meets Jaggers for the first time and they talk about Pip moving to London and becoming a gentleman and all that, and Pip going to the tailor's to get some nice clothes and him meeting Trabb's boy and being sized for a suit.

And the last scene I would like to see performed is when Orlick attacks Pip from behind and tells him that he attacked his sister and it was all Pip's fault and when Trabb's boy and Herbert come to the rescue and save Pip.

More Questions

On page 348-349, chapter 42. When Magwitch is talking about his life story and what has happened to him. He gets to the part where he and Compeyson were fighting in the ditch after hes told who Compeyson is. Magwitch mentions his misstris, but then stops and goes on to tell Pip and Herbert about how he got convicted. He also mentions that Compeyson was better at everything and that he was a great speaker and well educated, but that was after he told about the fight. I am wondering if Magwitch was fighting Compeyson because of Magwitch's misstris like maybe they had an affair or something? Or was Magwitch fighting Compeyson because he just couldn't stand the fact that Compeyson was better than him and was more educated than him?

Great Expectation Question

In chapter 27, page 223, Joe is vistiting Pip and telling him what he has been doing in the time where Pip has been gone. Joe is telling Pip that Miss Havisham called him to go see her. As Joe is saying, "Next day, sir, ... having cleaned myself, I go and I see Miss A." Throughout the book we have only read that Miss Havisham is Miss Havisham not Miss A. or any other name. My question is, why does Joe refer to Miss Havisham as Miss A. when he is talking to Pip?

Photo Post

Pip has a lot of relationships with people. But only a few are really good and close relationships. Like that of him and Joe, they were more like best friends then family. When Pip moves to London he meets new people and gets along, but him and Mr. Wemmick have developed the strongest relationship in the beginning of the second stage. Pip and Mr. Jaggers relationship is mostly that of business and work matter. Even though Pip has many close connections so far in the book and most likely throughout the book, no relationship can beat that of Pip's and Joe's very close bond.

Great Expectations

Pip is refering to many things like his lying to Mrs. Joe and to Mr. Pumblechook and also about when he helped the convict and he can't tell anyone. Pip will always remember this day throughout his lifetime. Even though the convict went back to the Hulks, Pip still helped him out of his leg iron and also fed him. Pip dispises this day because it is the day he stole from his own pantry and had to tell lies about a robber who may have taken the food. Everyone soon believed Pip but he couldn't handle the "chains" on him. His chains are about the lies he has told to get him out of trouble.



Throughout my elementary years, my sister was in the young and annoying age and she still is now. But through those years my sister would make me so agrivated that I would yell at her and give her a little light slap so I wouldn't get in trouble. She would always take it to far and say that I actually slapped her really hard. She would start crying and my parents would come upstairs to see what's wrong. They would see my sister crying and turn to me and say what did you do. I said I didn't do anything because I really didn't. Then they would ask my sister what happened and she would say she slapped me and it hurt. So I would get in trouble and I would deny that I slapped her hard because I didn't and I would get in trouble. My sister never got in trouble when she is annoying I would tell her to stop then go to my mom and ask if she can make her go in the other room. Then I would get in trouble for yelling at my sister. The younger sibling almost bever gets in trouble, it's always the older one.

Group Essay

I'm going to write about Cecily lying about her age when she goes to parties, and when Jack lies to Algernon about Cecily being his aunt. Those are low levels of dishonesty and I'm trying to find another small one to use.

Victorian Research

My research of the Victorian Age helped my understanding of the gender roles in the book, The Importance of Being Ernest. The roles are suggestive toward women meaning that they are supposed to be properly feminine. In the Victorian Age women were supposed to teach the children how to play their role in life, and they had to educate them. Women were supposed to be silent in public and obiedient to their husband. And above all they had to have alot of manners and be proper, even if fighting. Men, however, were the strong, brave people that protected their families. Marriage back then was thought of unimportant. Algernon says that marriages are made in heaven.

Miss Prism, although not the actual mother of Cecily, taught Cecily Germen, and how to be properly feminine, and to always be polite. Men, for women's daughters, they wanted them to be born from a wealthy family and to not be "bad". Lady Bracknell questions Jack about where he came from. where he was born. and who were his parents. Since he was not born into a wealthy family, Lady Bracknell found him unsuitable for her daugther. She wants her daughter to be wed into a wealthy family. Miss Prism does not want Cecily to marry Algernon because she has the impression that he is a bad person and is not good enough for Cecily.

Animal Farm Project Paper

We did the theme, Revisions of the Past. For this we decided to do the seven commandments and how the pigs changed them all to benefit themselves. We used Megan’s animals for the actual ones and for some of the revised ones. The past is the original commandments, when they were first thought of. We used Megan’s animals to show what each commandment was about. Then we looked through the book to find how the pigs changed the commandments to make sure that they were the higher animals of the farm. I video taped the clips and also edited them, and I spent like two hours everyday working on it. I spent about 6 hours on it all together maybe more. Then we spent about 4 hours on the Saturday after we got the assignment to shoot the clips of the commandments. We had a general idea of what we were doing, and then we changed our minds sometimes on where we would do the scene and how we would do it like with the animals. We got most of the filming, just about all of it, the I added a few clips to where I thought we needed it. I thought it turned out pretty well, on our computer it didn’t look that good, but on the sheet screen it looked pretty good and the music went well even though I had no idea what it was. We all contributed to the video equally. If we can make another short movie, I think I would do it because we had fun shooting the video for it.

Animal Farm Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ocOZE3pUc

Poetry Out Loud Performance

My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun, by William Shakespeare, performed by Allison Strong. Allison did a good job at picking a difficult poem to memorize. She needs to work on not moving her head as much and her hands a little less. I could tell she understood this poem, but she didn't say it so that I would get it. She did well on voice and articulation. You could understand her and she didn't mumble into the microphone or trip over herself in the words. There was no song rhythem. She had good physical presence. She looked confident and looked at the audience the whole time instead of looking at the gound.

I didn't really understand the poem. She's discribing her mistress and how she has bad breath and no color in her checks. Then she calls her a goddess. I don't understand if when she is talking about her in the beginning if it is a good thing or a bad thing. The performer did well at understanding it. but she didn't really tell it so that the audience would understand it.

Mockingbird Motif

The mockingbird motif is repeated throughout the book. It only comes up at least 3 or 4 times. This motif helped me understand what motif is more by actually saying it's a sin to kill a mockingbird which is the book title. Then the times after that I understood that it was the motif because it refered to some of the characters as innocent and fragile like a mockingbird and it also said that it would be like killing a mockingbird. Mockingbirds are fragile and innocent they don't harm anyone and just sing to everyone.

The mockingbird motif that reccurs throughout the book is about people that are fragile and inoccent to other people. Scout calls Boo Radley a mockingbird because he is fragile and doesn't do harm to anybody until he kills Bob Ewell. Scout tries to walk in his shoes by thinking about how he could stay in his house for so many years and not come out. Tom is compared to a mockingbird also. He was innocent in the trial, but back then nobody would put a black man's voice over a white man's voice no matter how bad they think the black man is innocent. This is like the theme justice vs. injustice. The injust part is when Tom is convicted for something he didn't do.

Life Lessons

My parents have always told me to be honest, nice, and finish all of your school work. They usually say to finish my homework because they say that it will pay off in the long run, and that it will help me with other things in life that may have the same situation. Also I would put off projects until either a couple days before the due date or the night and morning of. I don't do this anymore because I learned the hard way kind of that it doesn't work out so good. It's better to get something done early and wait a couple of days to turn it in then to finish it all the night of and spend all night working on it.

I always finish my homework when I get home, so I know I have finished it and I can just relax, but after I finish my chores. Then I don't have to worry about anything until the next day. They always tell me to be honest, which I am, it's better to be honest then to lie because if you lie then the guilt is stuck on you and you feel really bad, I know I would. I am nice to almost everyone, there are those few people, but very little that just bother me until I crack. It's nice to be honest and nice because people will trust you and respect you for who you are and if you lie, that all goes away.

Best Friend

My best friend is so nice. She is there whenever someone needs her. She is very considerate and caring of others. She's funny and very happy. She is just a go lucky girl. She knows how to have fun on a rainy day. She is up for almost everything. She is really good at volleyball, and very athletic. When, I need help in Latin and she gets the assignment, she's willing to help me even if she is kind of busy.

Jasmine does the minimum, but a little more than it, I think she could go to higher classes if she wanted to. She could pull through with it. I love hanging out with her because she is just a nice girl, funny, and very happy. She is also an ambivert, she likes hanging around people, but some days, very rarley, she likes to stay home and just get comfortable on the couch and watch movies.

Early Memories

I remember about 6 or 7 years ago, when the dog that was with my family even before I was born died. Luke, was an english setter and was about 8 when I was born. For three years he was my sibling, until I actually got one. Then there was three of us. We did everything together. Our family would take him on all of the vacations we would go on, because most of them allowed dogs. He was a rambunctious guy always running around and chasing things when we went down to the Oregon Coast. He would always eat the dead seagulls that washed onto the shore, it was gross. My mom and dad sometimes had to run after him because he would chase a flying seagull across the beach. But as he got older he got more slow and didn't do as much as he did. He would just lay on the beach instead of chasing things across it.
When he was 15 or 16 we started to notice that he had a large bump on the side of his hip. I can't remember what it was, but we brought him into the vet. They had to cut it, I think, then he had to wear one of those cones on his head for like 2 weeks or so. It was kind of funny watching him eat his food with the cone completly over the bowl, but sad also. I can't remember what happened exactly, but it was in August 6 or 7 years ago and Luke was 16. I was taking a nap alone and not knowing what was going on around me. Luke had gone over to one of our neighbors house and stayed there for a while. My dad and sister went to go look for him and found him laying in the woods close to their house. My dad had to carry him back and while he was barrying him in the woods my sister cried in my moms arms. Then I woke up and my parents and my sister sat me down at the table and told me what happened. I cried for I don't know how long, and realized that I would never see him again. I lost my best friend that day and I would never get him back.

Rebecca: Imagery

I am reading Rebecca and it is not good. I thought it sounded good, but it really isn't barely at all. I think the literary element that is most used in the book is imagery. Some people might think it is motif and I can see where they are getting that, but I think it is imagery more. The author uses imagery to describe in alot of detail the scenery that the main character is looking at or around her (it never said what her name was). The author explains the scenery in such detail, that it's almost like you are the girl and you are where she is. The author explains the way she is looking at something and how it makes her feel and why she feels that way. It also is really easy to imagine, because you have the exact detail. Like when the character is going to Manderly for the first time, the author describes the rhodedendrons on the wall and the way that the drive curved and curved, but then finally was straight. It kind of made you feel the same way as the character, which was awwed by the flowers and how there was so many of them.